LAHORE: In response to Tuesday’s proceedings in the Supreme Court in the Senate elections case, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Ms Maryam Nawaz Sharif has expressed hopes that the credibility of the institution of the judiciary will not be risked to, what she says, save the sinking ship of the government.

“It’s prayed and hoped that at the wish of one person to give relief to a party and support the sinking ship of the government, the credibility of the institution of the judiciary will not be put at stake,” she said in a tweet on Tuesday.

“Resurrecting the ‘ideology of necessity’ notwithstanding [a] clear clause of the Constitution will be a great tragedy for the country, nation and the judiciary itself,” she said in reference to the apex court’s demand that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should ensure that the ballots in the Senate elections due on March 3 should be identifi able/traceable through the existing laws.

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed had summoned the chief election commissioner in person in the Senate polls case. When the CEC explained to the court that identifi - cation of ballots could not be done without a constitutional amendment, it gave the ECP 24 hours to rethink in this regard.

“How can ECP ‘rethink’ something that’s enshrined in the Constitution?” Maryam questioned through another tweet. “If it requires constitutional amendment, there’s no other way it can be done. SC is requested to exercise extra caution & not do anything that will be conceived as defacing the Constitution at the behest of someone,” she maintained. The PML-N vice president argued that the “ECP like all institutions is bound by Article 226 of the Constitution.

It has categorically opined that open ballot cannot be the course for Senate elections since such [voting mode] would need a constitutional amendment, it would be wrong to use ECP’s shoulder & lay it open to public wrath.” The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government has moved the apex court against secret balloting in the Senate polls, pleading the system leads to selling of votes by members of the national and provincial assemblies that form the electoral college for electing members of the upper house of the parliament.

The opposition parties, including the PML-N and the PPP, are now opposing the move, demanding reforms in the whole electoral system, instead of picking just “what suits the government”.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2021